Page 93 - Been There… Done That!

Been There... Done That!
and started auditioning girl singers and dancers. I ended up hiring Beverly Berlin and a dancer named Sarah Jane. I passed on a bunch of very talented girls because I thought maybe they had ulterior motives.
Beverly and I met through the Coralie Jr. Talent Agency in Hollywood. She was a pretty classy lady, a little older than the rest of us, but I thought her maturity would help put the female dancers at ease. I couldn’t wait to hear her sing, but when I did she sang “Blue Moon,” and I thought, oh shit – this is not going to work. I asked if she did any rock or country songs because the military wasn’t a big fan of torch songs. Her response was one that I was a sucker for: “I will certainly try to learn some.” I was always weak for someone who was willing to try, so let the practice begin. It wasn’t terrific in the beginning, but she was good with the audience and easy to look at and definitely improving every day. Beverly worked hard at developing and went with us to Hawaii and then the Far East and islands in the South China Sea and back to the Off Broadway in San Francisco. She certainly turned out to be tough enough and a good band member and was undoubtedly a favorite in Vietnam.
It was decided because of the demands of this touring schedule and the size of the group, which was called the Gary Graham Revue, it was best to keep me playing all the guitar with Bob on bass and Keith behind the drums. We put in the time and work to get everything to sound and look great. By January of 1969 we were performing in Hawaii. Not only was it an ideal setting, but it was a chance for this new collaboration to get ready before the actual tour was to begin later that year.
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